A former SS guard has gone on trial in Germany accused of complicity in mass murder at a Nazi death camp during World War Two.

Named only as Johann R by authorities, the 94-year-old served in the Stutthof camp in what is now northern Poland from June 1942 to September 1944.

He denies knowing anything about atrocities committed there.

Because he was not yet aged 21, he is being tried in a juvenile court in Münster, western Germany.

The former guard, who uses a wheelchair, faces a sentence of 15 years if convicted but is unlikely to serve any time in prison because of his advanced age.

His court appearances will be limited to two hours at a time for the same reason, Dortmund prosecutor Andreas Brendel told AFP news agency.
What are the accusations?

The defendant, along with another former SS guard, is suspected of involvement in the murder of hundreds of people at the camp.

According to a court press release, the crimes include the use of Zyklon B poison gas to kill:

More than 100 Polish prisoners on 21-22 June 1944

At least 77 wounded Soviet prisoners-of-war during the summer of 1944

An unknown number of Jewish prisoners said to be "probably several hundred", between August and the end of 1944, some of whom were killed in railway carriages

The indictment lists other atrocities including the shooting of "several hundred" Jews deemed unfit for work between June 1944 and April 1945, and the killing of 140 people, including Jewish women and children, between 1942 and the end of 1944 with poison injections to the heart.

Other prisoners were deliberately left to freeze to death in the winter of 1943-44.